“Having been born out of government default, the essential characteristic of the fiat standard is that it uses government decree as the token of value on its monetary and payment network. Since the government can decree value on the network, it effectively makes its own credit money. As the government backs the entire banking system, this makes all credit issued by the banking system effectively the government’s credit, and so part of the money supply. In other words, the U.S. Congress and Federal Reserve are not the only institutions capable of conjuring money from thin air; any lending organization also has the capacity to increase the money supply through lending. Blurring the line between money and credit makes measuring the money supply practically impossible. In a payment system like gold or bitcoin, only mature money (or money of full maturity, meaning money that does not have a future period of maturity at which it acquires its full liquid value) can be used to settle payments and debts. Under a fiat system, money that has not matured, and will only do so in the future, can be accepted as payment, so long as it is guaranteed by a commercial entity with a lending license.”
— The Fiat Standard: The Debt Slavery Alternative to Human Civilization by #SaifedeanAmmous